The Causes of World War Two - Essay Example

A Detailed Explanation of the Causes of World War Two

With the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty, there was finally some hope of world peace. While this treaty marked the end of World War 1, which Japan participated, it would take only two decades after, for the Second World War to erupt. The official date on record for the beginning of World War II is noted to be 3rd September 1939. While there were plenty of grievances listed as leading the world to a second war, the causes of World War Two can be summed up into seven significant issues, namely:

• The Versailles Treaty

The Versailles Treaty was a source of anger and discontentment for most Germans. While the treaty did help end the war between the Western Powers of France, Greece, and Britain vs. The Germans, it also unfairly placed all the blame for eruption of the war on Germany. Moreover, the treaty forced Germany to make further concessions, including giving up certain territorial claims to France, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, and Poland, paying for repatriations, and having their army members and generals get tried for war crimes. The harshness of these terms naturally saw Germany oppose the treaty. Still, as they were arguing from a weak position, having lost the war, they were powerless to make any amendments to the agreement before its signing. Even with the disarmament of Germany after the signing of the treaty, resentment still grew within German society, and for close to two decades, Germans grew in their hate and opposition of the treaty and all those who benefited from their disadvantaged position.

From 1934, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany. With his dictatorship, he further fuelled the resentment festering in German society by promising to avenge every wrongdoing the company had suffered at the hand of the Western Countries. Only two years into his rule, Hitler began a campaign to militarize Germany in 1933, despite the move being in contravention to the Versailles Treaty. Furthermore, the dictator began a drive to promote nationalism, and Pan-Germanism, a campaign to unite all German-speaking parts of Europe. Hitler also championed anti-Semitic policies, seeking to exterminate and rid his country of Jewish settlers.

In Italy, was the second European nation aggrieved by the provisions of the Versailles Treaty. Despite his country being on the losing side of World War I, then the leader of Italy, Benito Mussolini, was in support of a war, and he preached expansionist policies that would be more easily achieved with a war. Consequently, Germany and Italy joined hands with Japan in declaring war against all Western Powers. However, it would be some two years after, before any battles were fought.

• The Rise of Fascism and Nazism

Moreover, the resentment and disillusionment occasioned by the Versailles Treaty amongst Germans also provided fuel to the rising Nazism and Fascism in the country. Over the 1930's Adolf Hitler had risen to leadership of the NAZI party, and the policy he preached for the party entailed restoring and rebuilding Germany and its glory by defeating all the enemies that Germany had. The repatriations that Germany was still paying to the Western Countries at the time, further angered the German people. It was, thus, easy for Hitler to sell his policy that urged the citizens to denounce the Versailles Treaty officially. With the move too, he was able to promote Nazism as the vehicle through which the German dream would be achieved. Adolf Hitler believed that war was the only solution to the current predicament facing Germany, and in turn, he essentially made the country a war camp. His government called for enlisting of service members into the army, and the populations did so enthusiastically. Moreover, during this time, Hitler would also revive the nation's arms industry by recruiting innovative talent and providing funding for research.

Across the borders in Italy, Benito Mussolini advanced Fascism ideologies in a bid to fulfill the nation's various political goals. The dictator had a great desire to return the nation to the times of the great Roman conquests and prosperity witnessed in the past, and Fascism was his ideological vehicle of choice. Mussolini was noted to detest the socialist policy present in Italy, and among his first actions as the Italian leader was to reform the government and turn it into a dictatorship. During this time, sections of World War 1 veterans who supported Fascism would openly lash out against Anarchists, Communists, and Socialists. As a consequence, the Italian people were influenced by praising and preferring war as a tool for attaining the political goals sought by the country. Fascist ideologies acted to deny individual freedoms to the people in favor of the nation's interests. Accordingly, the policy was used as an excuse to deny people their freedom of expression and speech. It was also an appropriate cover in the war against internationalism, communism, and socialism. According to Mussolini, the main principle of Fascism was, "Everything is the State, Nothing should be outside the State, and Nothing against the State." While the Versailles Treaty acted prohibited both Germany and Italy from rearming themselves, both countries proceeded to acquire and possess arms in secret. Additionally, both secretly established programs and protocols for the defense of their countries should an attack be launched against them by the Western powers. Evidently, from the actions of the two nations, it is clear that a battle was imminent.

• The Rise of Japan as an Imperial Power

Further away from Europe, and across the seas, Japan also began flexing its powers and imperialist policy to other nations, and in consequence, acted to fuel the possibility of chaos even more. Of all the Asian countries, the Asian island was the first to adopt an expansionist policy. The country was also the first Asian nation to begin the industrialization of its economy. Their efforts were evident in 1902, during the forming of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty, where Britain recognized the nation as being equal to any other European nation as well as Japan. Two years later, the Asian nation would defeat Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. This war was fought to settle the ambitions of the two countries in their quest to conquer Manchuria (part of present-day Northern China) that was occupied by Japan. Throughout World War 1, the county had fought for the Allied side, and in return, the Versailles Treaty granted the German colonies in China following the end of the war. Within a short time-span, Germany had developed a military regime that practiced Fascism. This Fascist Japanese Army, controlled by Japan, would establish control of vast territories in China through warfare after the Russo-Japanese War, and they could occupy China until after World War II ended. Six years after Japan won control over the Chinese territories of Manchuria and Manchukuo, the country would enter into a pact with Italy and Germany. The various treaties signed to this effect established the Axis Powers. This newly established unity would act as the main faction against the Allied forces during the Second World War. Unfortunately for the Asian nation, their expansionist ambitions proved their undoing when it brought them into conflict with the United States of America when they attacked Pearl harbor in 1941. Before this, their involvement in aggression acts had only been limited to the signing of secret Fascist acts with the German and Italian nations. These treaties had given each member nation a free hand to expand within their regions as they saw fit. One of the main contributing factors to World War II was a joint intervention of Japan in aid of a fellow Axis Power following America's entry into the war, in support of the Western Nations. Without this joint treaty, the attacks on the allied countries would most probably have been more uncoordinated, leading to an overwhelming failure.

• The Fear of Spreading Communism

The rising influence of the Soviet Union was also a source of concern and worried for other nations across the globe over communist ideologies spreading to their territories. Japan, England, Italy, Germany, and France all wished to keep communism away from their borders. Capitalist nations especially saw communism as a significant threat for the peasant communities within their jurisdictions might start calling for an end to capitalism, in favor of a communist government. Capitalist Britain and France saw the growth of communist Russia risking a rebellion, and widespread protests within their states inspired into organizing a socialist revolution. In consequence, their governments would be overthrown.

Conversely, Fascist leaning powers were opposed to communist ideologies as these lacked the authoritarian policy enshrined in Fascism. Furthermore, the left-leaning egalitarian ideologies advanced by communism was in stark opposition to the right-leaning authoritarianism preached by Fascism. It is due to these differences that powers practicing Fascism opposed communist policy vehemently and considered communist powers as direct enemies. Such powers, such as Japan, did not want their citizens to interact with communist ideologies, for they wanted their forms of government to remain stable without interference. Moreover, communism posed a significant threat to the continued spread of Fascism both in Europe and across the world. With the enmity between Fascist and Communist powers thriving in Europe, the Soviet Union proceeded to support and aid various leftist powers ascend into power in Europe, as a check against the Fascist movement. By 1935, communism had spread drastically into multiple powers in Europe to the extent of planning and holding the first Communist International (Comintern) Conference. Germany, Japan, and Italy intern signed the Anti-Comintern Treaty, where Fascists agreed to go to war against the communist policy. With the signing of this treaty in 1937, Germany went a step further, declaring its ambitious plans to conquer the USSR. With the hostilities between Fascist and Communist-led powers boiling to a fever pitch, plus the relationship between the Western and Axis powers being extremely strained, a Second World War became inevitable.

With the rise of the Soviet Union and the growing spread of communism, the Western Nations, France, and England especially, opted to adopt an Appeasement in response to the aggressions by Fascist powers in Europe. Accordingly, England and France watched as Italy and Germany became increasingly aggressive against communist powers, hoping that these acts of aggression would work to weaken USSR and other communist powers. Keep in mind that while England and France were not in support of Fascism, but rather had a keen interest in seeing communism fall. However, for a different reason (as previously mentioned, communism risked sparking popular revolt in capitalist nations should the poorer masses within their countries come into contact with the communist ideologies). Additionally, Western Europe also thought they could deter the spread of communism to their regions by having Fascist Central Europe act as a buffer or defensive wall against further spread westwards. As a further protection measure, the then prime ministers of the English and French governments, Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier, opted to appease Germany to lower the chances of Germany attacking their nations. While this appeasement appeared harmless at first and seemed enforced mainly out of fear by Western Europe, it effectively strengthened the Fascist powers to levels unforeseen before and pushed the world further to the brink of World War II. Consider the following examples below:

Following the Spanish Civil War of 1936, between communist and fascist political parties within Spain, Both Italy and Germany were quick to come to the aid of the local fascist party supplying both troops and weaponry in large numbers. France and Britain, however, chose the non-intervention route, opting to steer clear of the conflict, despite appealing to both countries collectively to step in and help. Secondly, 1938 saw Germany step up its efforts to annex Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, due to the region being populated by a majority German-speaking population. Following Czechoslovakia's rejection of the move, Hitler sought help from the Western powers of France and England over the matter, and the two nations readily obliged and supported the fascist cause. Both western powers did not do anything to support Czechoslovakia. Still, they instead promptly signed the Munich Pact allowing Hitler-led Germany the freedom to seize as much of Czechoslovakia as he pleased. To this end, the move by allied Europe to appease rather than reprimand is one of the notable causes that led to the Second World War as it further grew conflicts between communism and Fascist groups such as the government in Germany.

• Fascist Aggression

Excessive aggression by fascist regimes across the world was yet another reason for succumbing to World War II. In the Far East, Japan was first to invade China and carve out the northern part of the country, renaming the occupied region Manchukuo. From this region, the Island nation would organize further acts of aggression in mainland China, culminating in the Sino Japanese war of 1937. Despite constant appeals for help by China, neither Britain nor France nor even The United States intervened in the conflict. China's protests to the League of Nations, however, led to the League's strong protests against the Asian power. These protests did little to deter the country, though, for instead of stopping, the Asian power left the League instead, and proceeded with its aggression in China. In the same breath, Italy attacked Ethiopia for no good reason in 1935. Again, the League's actions to condemn Italy fell on deaf ears. By following the appeasement policy, the League essentially allowed Ethiopia to be conquered by Italy in 1936. Germany would, in 1938, also invade and annex Austria. Despite the severity of the action, neither allied power spoke a word in condemnation of the act. Accordingly, while the aggression by Germany and other fascist powers was indirectly a policy of the appeasement and non-intervention policy, the resulting acts of aggression acted to create anger, resentment, and animosity within the affected nations, further creating an atmosphere ripe for conflict.

The move by Britain, America, and France not to intervene in any of the conflicts arising from aggression by Germany and other fascist powers, and instead of sticking with non-appeasement, also ensured the League of Nations lacked any real power to fulfill its mandate. With the two major members of the League, France, and Britain choosing an appeasement policy and choosing not to intervene, the League was unable to enforce anything, call for military intervention, or even impose sanctions. In its inability to do anything, too, the main aggressors were encouraged to continue with the expansionist conquests for the rest of the world was either powerless or unwilling to stop them. Accordingly, the failure and subsequent collapse of the League was directly due to continued Fascist aggression, and it further contributed to powers going into World War II.

• Poland

Finally, Poland was also noted to have played a significant role and is the final straw that led to the start of World War II. This particular conflict was the result of an increasingly ambitious Germany seeking possession of the Polish city by the name Danzig. Successful annexation of Danzig would have provided Germany with a direct link to Prussia for the first time since the ties had been broken following World War I. Noting the rapid expansion of Germany thus far, Britain and France were both apprehensive about allowing Germany any further freedom. Accordingly, both seriously considering their apprehension policy, and for the first time since the end of World War I, they decided to protect Poland. To this end, both Western Nations threatened Germany with War if they did not stop with their aggression in Poland. The long-distance between Poland and both the allied nations, however, proved a significant stumbling block to ensuring their provided immediate protection against a German invasion.

Consequently, the British attempted to enter into a Pact with the Soviet Union to help safeguard Poland's independence. However, The Soviets had grown wary of alliances with the allied powers following their non-intervention and appeasement policies. Wary of Western power's schemes to use the German nation against them, the Soviets instead entered into a Mutual Non-Aggression Pact with Germany. In addition, Poland had been anti-communist and so, defending them against the Germans would not have been in their best interests. With this in mind, the Soviets and the Germans entered into a pact that assured peaceful coexistence between themselves. In secret, too, they agreed to both invade Poland and divide it into two halves. With the conclusion of this agreement, the Hitler-led Germany would invade Poland on 1st September 1939. While they were confident The West would remain passive and not interfere, both France and Britain declared war on Germany soon after marking the beginning of the Second World War. While the Polish conflict can be directly attributed to starting the war, there remain many more intricate factors that led the world to the brink. These factors, as seen above, played just as significant a role in leading the world to anarchy.